Two Mates Piggyback Across 4 Continents in 3 Months

When strangers saw Lachie Bennett carrying his friend Fletcher Crowley up 268 steps to Hong Kong's Big Buddha, they assumed it was a prank. But for these two 20-year-old Australians, piggybacking around the world is just how they make adventure accessible.

Fletcher became paraplegic at 17 after a mountain biking accident broke two vertebrae. Though he can walk short distances, anything beyond 20 meters leaves him exhausted.

"This has happened. What are we doing now?" Fletcher remembers thinking after the injury. He immediately started researching adaptive sports and ways to keep living the adventurous life he loved.

That's when he met Lachie at a resort for people with spinal cord injuries. The pair had attended the same school but never connected until Lachie started working in adaptive sports support.

"We just clicked," Fletcher says. Two years later, they have thousands of followers on social media as Two Mates 1 Chair.

Their friendship sparked during a spontaneous trip to a Gold Coast theme park. When Lachie suggested Wet'n'Wild, Fletcher asked how it would work. The answer became their signature move: piggybacking.

The duo just completed a three-month journey spanning four continents. They traveled through Hong Kong, Brazil, South Africa and across Europe with just a rental car and a few nights of accommodation booked in advance.

"We went into it thinking it was going to be a lot harder," Fletcher admits. They encountered families who invited them to stay, locals who showed them around, and far fewer barriers than expected.

Yes, there were challenges. Snow was tricky. Some trains lacked accessibility. Three-step entrances frustrated them when a simple ramp would solve everything.

But Fletcher and Lachie discovered unexpected advantages too. Fletcher's wheelchair becomes permanent storage for two backpacks. Disability parking means front-row spots everywhere. And piggybacking opened doors that standard accessibility couldn't.

Why This Inspires

Through their journey, Fletcher and Lachie are rewriting assumptions about travel with disabilities. Their message to followers isn't about overcoming limitations, it's about refusing to accept them in the first place.

"On this trip, we learnt a lot to just ignore what people think," Lachie says. "We just do us."

They've heard from people in wheelchairs and beyond who tell them the same thing: You proved that possibilities exist where we thought there were only barriers. Now they're planning their next adventure, because the world looks different when you refuse to let obstacles define your path.